Sitting here in Sweden is interesting... relatively neutrally on the side lines watching another Australian Political Election unfold in unbelievable form. What I am referring to is another 'hung Parliament' - this time on a State level, in the State of Queensland. It is not uncommon for State Elections to play out towards a tie between the two party system - ironically a system put in place to stabilise the Australian Political scene... but now this time proven Westminster style democratic system is failing the people, over and over.
Back in 2010, Australian Federal Politics experienced its first Hung Parliament since near the dawn of the two party system in Australia, and therefore no one really knew what to do about it. Sitting there scratching their heads for two weeks while the honest Australian voter wondered where and how their votes would count. The logical outcome should have been another election, but no... while the prospective Governments lay in the balance, they seeked support from the Independents. Independents who had won their electorate's support because the voters didn't want either of the two major parties in power in their area. Makes perfect sense without argument or dispute. Instead the two major Parties entered into negotiation, almost holding them to ransom with ideas that the whole Country's ruling lay in their hands. Talk about pressure. Bulling and bribery comes to mind, forcing the Independents to side with a major party - basically their enemy.
Now it is happening again... with the Queensland State leadership balancing on some final vote counts and the Independents giving support to one or the other major Party. So I ask... is that really Democracy? We are given the right to vote... actually forced to vote in Australia, with (I hope) decisions made on passion and support for the cause each Party believes in. And then all that effort and power the people express is watered down to people we don't really know or believe in. The irony is that we are sold the Westminster Democratic system as the golden voice of the people, and then the people all sit there watching the dog fight play out without making a sound!!?? All of a sudden the voting public are muted and just accept that this is the way it is going to be, like pawns - are the people really that powerless? The further evidence of massive Democratic failure is due to lack of education of the system to the people (maybe the Politician's want it that way?). People make a first preference vote, and then second preferences and so on. Easy... um, no. In both the 2010 Federal Election and the current vote standing of the 2015 QLD Election, total 1st pref votes show that the LNP are favoured by the people, yet ALP is going to take power... how is that Democracy? It is basically saying, "yes, we hear you, but you are not going to get what you want"... and then the ALP steps into power claiming they have a clear victory - what a joke!
All this said, a redesign of the Political system would be a massive feat, and one which unfortunately would not happen in the near future - the Gov'ts have trouble running the Country as they are, let alone putting more energy into changing a system which, lets face it, may have pushed them into power in the first place. Yet with Hung Parliaments seeming to be a more common affair, it is telling us that the voters are either annoyed with both major Parties and can't decide, or they just have no clue and don't really care. Democratically speaking, the People's voice should be heard... and that is never going to be the case if we don't care enough to make a stand against decisions being made for us rather than with us... but then again, isn't that what Politics is all about?
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